Just a few months ago, we celebrated the 249th anniversary of our Founders signing the Declaration of Independence. In signing this statement, the Founders “brought forth a new nation, conceived in liberty.” But later events showed that the Declaration’s principles – without a strong and unified central government – were not enough to keep that young nation afloat. After reflection and passionate debate, the Founders settled on a new solution: the Constitution. It is that document, which Abraham Lincoln called the “picture of silver” around the Declaration’s “apple of gold,” that we celebrate today.
Over two centuries later, the Constitution remains our country’s supreme reflection of political wisdom. Based on a marriage of ancient political principles and a “new science of government,” our Constitution reflects the very best of the Enlightenment tradition. It creates a strong and unified, but ultimately limited, legislature responsible for issues of national importance. It creates a vigorous and energetic executive, tasked with protecting our institutions of government from threats foreign and domestic. It installs an independent judiciary to enforce the limitations imposed on the federal government. And it ensures that each of these branches counterbalance each other – and that the people counterbalance all three – so as to preserve this delicate system.
Our Constitution, against all odds, codified American liberty and ensured American greatness. It provided the foundation for our rapid growth over the course of the 19th century, withstood the test of the Civil War, and kept our government from strangling the spirit of freedom.
But with the rise of Progressivism over the 20th century, our political class has rejected the wisdom of the Founders. Congress has abandoned all pretense of limited powers – taking for itself the power to regulate everything that moves. Our executive is hampered by legislative encroachment and rogue, radical judges. Those left-wing district court judges go out of their way to sidestep the will of the people, even when expressed through proper constitutional channels. Unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in the so-called “administrative state” – despite having no constitutional authority – claim for themselves the right to govern a free people and answer to no one.
Fortunately, President Trump has dedicated the past 10 years of his life to restoring our original constitutional structure, defending against those who threaten to erase it. He is – as one law professor has put it – our “Defender in Chief,” defending the Constitution from those who threaten to erase it. He has reclaimed rightful presidential power from the unchecked power of Congress and the administrative state. He has pushed back on the regulatory agenda of unelected bureaucrats and restored power to the people and the states. And he has reinstated our nation’s borders, restoring integrity to the safety and security of American citizens.
Trump has allies in constitutional conservatives in the judiciary, some of whom he himself appointed. The Supreme Court, led by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, has been working steadily to restore some semblance of our original Constitution. They have rolled back the attempt by leftist judges to read the sexual revolution into our Constitution, just as they have fought back on the attempt to read our Christian heritage out of it. They have repeatedly upheld the president’s authority to preserve, protect and defend both the Constitution and our homeland. And, recently, they have pushed back on radical lower court judges who have unconstitutionally blocked the president’s agenda.
But in this fight to restore the Constitution, Trump needs firm allies in the states. He needs conservative fighters at every level of government, who are dedicated to our constitutional freedoms. We have seen examples of this leadership in states like Texas, Tennessee and Florida. And I am glad that we have this kind of conservative leadership right here in Alabama. Between Sen. Tuberville, Sen. Britt, Gov. Ivey, and many others, we have been blessed with firm constitutional conservatives as our state leaders. The fight, however, is nowhere near finished.
This Constitution Day, we must reflect on where the fight goes from here, and how best to take advantage of Trump’s momentum to rescue the Founders’ Constitution from the clutches of the anti-American left. Thanks to Trump, I am optimistic about the future. I fervently pray for the future of America. And today, I am grateful that we have a Constitution worth fighting for.
